Louisiana vs. New Mexico State preview
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Sun Belt Basketball Game of the Week: New Mexico State at Louisiana's Ragin Cajuns
Elliot Venable
1/3/2003
Sun Belt Game of the Week: New Mexico State at Louisiana’s Ragin Cajuns, 7 P.M.
At the Cajundome
The Matchup: In the SBC opener for both teams, this could prove to be a pivotal matchup on who will hold the top spot in the SBC West. It’s crazy to think that the first SBC conference game can determine the frontrunner, but with Western Kentucky struggling without Chris Marcus, these two teams are the top runners for the SBC crown. Last year NMSU and UL played for the SBC championship at UL with UL prevailing 69-67. This year’s matchup could prove to be a very close one.
About the Aggies: The Aggies are led be legendary Coach Lou Henson. Henson is best known at his stint with Illinois. But he is ninth all-time in wins and the fourth in wins by active coaches. But the Aggies don’t have just their coach to brag about. NMSU is led by James Moore (20.3 points and 5.8 rebounds), a 6-foot-8 forward, 6-10 NMSU center Chris Jackson (6.8 points and 7.3 rebounds), and 6-4 guard Brandon Mason (14.2 ppg.) Their three top scorers have been effective in many games this season. NMSU nearly knocked off Texas Tech in Lubbock, losing by a point. But they have beaten Colorado, and have played tough against teams all season. NMSU will have to neutralize the inside game of UL and contain the backcourt of UL also.
About The Cajuns: The question about the Cajuns is more like what team will show up. Louisiana has beaten nationally ranked Mississippi State and manhandled Charlotte on their home courts. When they play at their best, they can compete with anyone. But, they have also been beaten by Colorado and Mcneese State. When they are not playing their best, they are usually in trouble. It’s all about what team will show up. UL has all of the talent they need to make a run into the NCAA tourney, and possibly go pretty deep, but unless they are consistent, don’t expect that to happen. The Cajuns are led by their big three. Guard Brad Boyd (19.5 ppg), guard Anthony Johnson ( 15.8 ppg) and highly touted center Michael Southall (13.6ppg, 6.5 rpg). The Cajuns might be missing one of the big three, with Johnson nursing an ankle sprain suffered this past Saturday. There is plenty of talent on the court for the Cajuns. The key will be how the Cajuns will play against the NMSU big men. Southall will have to play well. Boyd will have to play to his potential. Last week Boyd ranked first among Division I three-point shooters. The Inside game will be key tonight with power going against power.
Bottom Line: One key stat to watch: rebounds. The Cajuns have been inconsistent rebounding and are not too good in offensive rebounds. The Aggies are +.9 in rebounds while the Cajuns are -0.7. This could be a key factor. This could come down to who the better defensive team will be. The Cajuns most likely will be without Anthony Johnson. His point production will be picked up. If the Cajuns neutralize the big men of NMSU, they will be prevail. Being at home will not hurt. Another fact that flies under the radar for the Aggies is their backcourt. They have to twin guards that can shoot the three and Brandon Mason is effective. Watch out for these three. Homecourt advantage and an inside game that will prevail will give the Cajuns the win in a good game at the Cajundome:
NMSU 65
Louisiana 68
Email Elliot at: vinnie1235@hotmail.com
Cajuns roll to Sun Belt opening win over Aggies
<blockquote><p align=justify>Advertisers-Dan McDonald
LAFAYETTE - Louisiana's mens basketball team wasn't responding well to the start of Sun Belt Conference play in the opening minutes Thursday night.
And Laurie Bridges knew it.
His Ragin' Cajuns were down by nine points less than nine minutes into the league opener against New Mexico State at the Cajundome.
"It's conference play," Bridges said. "We knew we had to get it going."
Bridges proceeded to score nine straight points for the Cajuns, had 13 points in the last 11 minutes of the first half and generally bedeviled the visiting Aggies in an 81-74 victory that gave the hosts the early leg up in the Sun Belt race.
Bridges had a career-high 21 points, hitting 8-of-14 shots, and added eight rebounds in 39 minutes, and he also did a defensive job on NMSU guard Brandon Mason. A double-figure scorer in six of his last seven games, Mason hit only 3-of-13 from the floor and finished with seven points.
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"The thing that amazes me about Laurie," said Cajun head coach Jessie Evans, "is that he's in such good condition, he can guard a good perimeter player and still be effective on the offensive end. He's doing it on both ends of the floor for us right now."
"We had nobody to stop Bridges," said long-time Aggie coach Lou Henson, who claimed his 750th career victory in NMSU's last outing. "Without (Anthony) Johnson there, maybe our guys thought it wasn't going to be as tough."
Johnson, the Cajuns' senior swingman who is seven short of 1,000 career points, missed his second straight game with a sprained ankle, but Bridges more than took up the scoring slack.
Actually, several of the Cajuns took up the slack, with all five starters scoring in double figures to hold off the two-man charge of Aggie forward James Moore and guard Jason Fontenet.
Mason had 22 points, including eight straight to start the second half, while Fontenet had 20. The two also combined to hit 18-of-27 shots, but the rest of the Aggie team only managed 32 points.
Fontenet scored 10 points in a period of 2:35 in the first half, the last of those coming on a driving jumper 11:08 before halftime that gave the Aggies (8-3, 0-1) a 21-12 lead. Bridges hit a three-pointer on the next possession, and added a free throw, a jumper and another trey in the next 90 seconds to cut the margin to 23-21.
"When my teammates get going, I get going," said Bridges, who made his third straight start. "We tend to get an early lead and let it slip away."
This time he led the rally, and the Cajuns (8-4, 1-0) never trailed again after Chris Cameron's two free throws 7:51 before halftime made it 27-25.
Michael Southall had all eight of his first-half points in the final 7:16 and finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, and frontcourt mate Cedric Williams added 12 points.
Brad Boyd (12) and Kenneth Lawrence (11) were the other twin-digit scorers, and Lawrence also had five assists and five steals - giving him 20 assists and only four turnovers in Louisiana's last three games.
"My role's not to go out and score 30," said Lawrence, who was part of a trapping defense that forced 17 NMSU turnovers in the first 28 minutes. "I try to get those other guys going. We count on those guys inside, and they came through tonight."
Louisiana finished with a narrow 33-30 rebound edge, but Henson said that defensive pressure was more of a factor.
"We did a poor job of handing that," he said. "We knew they would trap us ... they've done it in the past, and I thought we'd worked on that. But they're very aggressive and they did a good job on the double teams."
The Aggies turned it over seven times in the last six and one-half minutes of the first half, and the Cajuns used that period to stretch a one-point margin to a seven-point advantage at 40-33 on Bridges' jumper. After that, the only time NMSU got inside five points was on Allen Haynes' three-pointer with 8:48 left that made it 55-51.
"We didn't force a lot of turnovers in the second half," Evans said, "but we did a better job on the glass. Toward the end, I thought we had to back off, buckle down and defend the basket, and not give up any cheap baskets."
The Cajuns hit eight straight free throws in the final 1:24 to preserve the margin, and needed most of them after the Aggies had wiped out much of a 12-point lead with 3:39 left with a 7-0 run.
"We knew it wasn't going to be easy," Evans said, "and we know that it will be a war when we go to Las Cruces."
Louisiana 81, New Mexico State 74
NEW MEXICO STATE (8-3, 0-1)
James Moore 10-14 2-2 22, Kelsey Crooks 3-6 0-0 7, Chris Jackson 3-7 2-4 8, Jason Fontenet 8-13 2-2 20, Brandon Mason 3-13 1-1 7, Earl Calloway 1-1 0-0 2, James Fontenet 0-1 0-0 0, Will Morris 0-1 0-0 0, James Felder 0-2 0-0 0, Lamar Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Allen Haynes 3-8 0-0 8. Totals 31-66 7-9 74.
UL LAFAYETTE (8-4, 1-0)
Cedric Williams 6-9 0-0 12, Michael Southall 5-8 4-6 14, Laurie Bridges 8-14 3-4 21, Brad Boyd 4-11 2-2 12, Kenneth Lawrence 3-7 5-6 11, Chris Cameron 2-6 3-4 7, Immanuel Washington 2-3 0-0 4, Robert Davis 0-1 0-1 0. Totals 30-59 17-23 81.
Half-UL Lafayette 40, NMSU 34. Three-point goals-NMSU 5-17 (Jason Fontenet 2-4, Haynes 2-6, Crooks 1-2, James Fontenet 0-1, Morris 0-1, Mason 0-3), UL Lafayette 4-14 (Bridges 2-3, Boyd 2-7, Cameron 0-4). Fouled out-Jason Fontenet. Rebounds-NMSU 30 (Jackson 10, Felder 6, Crooks 4, Haynes 3, Moore 2, Jason Fontenet 2, Mason 2, Calloway 1), UL Lafayette 33 (Southall 10, Bridges 8, Cameron 3, Washington 3, Boyd 2, Williams 1, Lawrence 1, team 5). Assists-NMSU 14 (Jason Fontenet 6, Mason 5, Jackson 1, Calloway 1, Haynes 1), UL Lafayette 17 (Lawrence 5, Southall 4, Boyd 3, Cameron 2, Washington 2, Bridges 1). Blocks-NMSU 1 (Moore 1), UL Lafayette 7 (Southall 4, Bridges 1, Boyd 1, Cameron 1). Steals-NMSU 6 (Moore 3, Jackson 1, Mason 1, Haynes 1), UL Lafayette 10 (Lawrence 5, Southall 2, Bridges 1, Boyd 1, Washington 1). Minutes-NMSU, Jackson 35, Moore 33, Jason Fontenet 32, Mason 32, Crooks 18, Haynes 27, Calloway 9, Felder 8, James Fontenet 2, Morris 2, Hill 2. UL Lafayette, Bridges 39, Southall 36, Boyd 33, Lawrence 26, Williams 25, Washington 21, Cameron 17, Davis 3. Turnovers-NMSU 17, UL Lafayette 13. Total fouls-NMSU 17, UL Lafayette 16. Technicals-none. Officials-Rick Randall, Hal Lusk, Bobby Jacobs. Attendance-5,621.
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Cajuns among last ones standing in battle with NMSU
<blockquote><p align=justify>Advertisers-Bruce Brown
LAFAYETTE - If this is the way it's going to be, the Sun Belt Conference basketball race is going to look like a Bruce Willis movie.
You know the one - "Last Man Standing."
Louisiana survived a rugged SBC opener before 5,621 fans at the Cajundome on Thursday night, besting New Mexico State 81-74 in a battle of Western Division contenders.
"Those boys have been in the weight room since last year," said Cajun center Michael Southall, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds. "(Center) Chris Jackson is a load, and all of their guys were a lot stronger."
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It didn't help the Aggies of coach Lou Henson, who turned the ball over 14 times in the first half but calmed down with just three such miscues after the break.
"They were so much more physical than we were, it wasn't even close," Henson said. "They had more size and aggressiveness than we did."
Cajun guard Immanuel Washington might argue that point.
Inserted to slow down the first-half shooting of NMSU point guard Jason Fontenet, Washington ran smack into a screen by 6-foot-8, 230-pound Lamar Hill with 5:35 left before intermission and was flat on his back for a couple of minutes until he could wobble to the bench.
But he returned.
It was that kind of evening.
Southall took an ice pack on his right shoulder at one point, and later was felled by a cramp in his calf.
NMSU's Brandon Mason twisted an ankle and limped to the bench with 15:38 to play, but later returned to action.
"That was the most fouls (4) I've had all year," said Cajun point guard Kenneth Lawrence, who had 11 points, 5 assists and just a pair of turnovers in the intense contest.
"The stronger team is going to survive at the end. Whoever bangs the most is going to come out on top."
"I thought this was a great college basketball game," Cajun coach Jessie Evans said. "I told the guys prior to the game to strap it on and to make sure their seat belts were tightly fastened, because we're in for a war."
The Cajuns turned up the heat and the tempo after trailing 19-11 in the first half, finishing with 10 steals and forcing those 17 turnovers. Forcing the action produced a 17-of-23 night at the free throw line, to 7-of-9 for NMSU.
"They shot 23 free throws to our nine, and we had 18 turnovers," Henson said. "That really hurt us."
"It helps a lot to have a veteran team in a game like this," Lawrence said. "A young team tends to break down and think the game's over. A veteran team stays together and comes out on top."
Even if it took withstanding a series of NMSU rallies in the second half.
"Both teams are athletic, both are long," Evans said. "Both teams have good inside people and good people on the perimeter. So, you know it will be tough."
Don't expect it to lighten up anytime soon, either. The Cajuns visit Conference USA member Houston on Saturday, then return to Sun Belt action next week with road tests at South Alabama and New Orleans.
New Mexico State is a recent entry in the Cajuns' list of rivals, while the Jaguars and Privateers are long established as fierce foes.
"This (Sun Belt race) is going to be a war," Evans said. "And it's going to be a lot of fun."
As long as the survivors are whole enough to enjoy it in March.
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Louisiana vs NMSU (Pictures )
<center><table border=6><td><img src="https://forumeus.com/images/seasons/2002-03/2003-team-nmsu-00.jpg"></td></table><br></center><blockquote><p align=justify>Michael Southall looks to pass to dashing KJ as Coach Evans looks on, while getting his 100th win as a University of Louisiana head coach.
